Graveyard Keeper

This game had a very rocky launch, as testified by many, many reviews from August 2018. Many called the game "unfinished". I'm very happy to say that after several months and A LOT of patches, the game feels absolutely great. There have been many gameplay elements added over time, like alchemy or making zombies (!!!). Overall its gameplay is somewhat similar to Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon or any other "farm simulator" game, but there's enough unique twists to make it shine. It gives many diverse goals for a player to achieve and hours of nice, dark fun. Many nights I realised that it's 3am suddenly and I've been playing this game since 8pm. Huge "just one more day" syndrome. Overall, as of "Breaking Dead" update, it was one of the best "farm simulators" I've ever played. The game obviously isn't perfect, particularly the beginning might be a bit confusing to people new to the genre. Still, I'd say it's worth giving a chance and definitely don't get discouraged by all the "at launch" reviews - it has gone a long way since then (and the rumours say there is still more on the way).

Do you think Stardew Valley was nice, but it didn't have enough exhumed corpses or witch hunts? This game is tailor-made to address your weirdly specific crtiticisms. The gameplay is like some mirror-universe twin of the Stardew/Harvest Moon genre, exhect instead of framing you're burying (or digging up) dead people. There's much more focus on doing tasks for other people, at least in the early game, so it has more direction than Stardew et. al., but the stamina depletion problem is pretty bad in the early game and I'm not sure if it ever gets better, or you just become able to afford more food to stuff you face with to alleviate it. Technically it seems so run alright. I've only seen one problem so far and it was when I was talking to a villager and the game seemed to auto-skip all of his dialogue and the text box stayed up after I stopped talking to him and I had to reload my save.

A lot of people who have been spoiled by Stardew Valley are expecting this game to be very similar, and for good reason. The artwork looks similar, the gameplay mechanics are similar, but the amount of grinding required is far more. This game could be the Dark Souls of Stardew Valley. Reviewing this game of its own merit, I personally am enjoying the amount of work to be done in the game to do tasks. There are several places where dialing the difficulty down would be appreciated, but in my opinion it adds character to the game. There is quite some content to the game and holds potential for lot more. The experience is definitely enjoyable barring the impending dread that something might stop working or bug out. The game is severely buggy. From instances of broken translations and other minor bugs and issues to game breaking bugs, it is blatantly obvious that there was no QA done prior to release. There is a lot of work to be done and the devs seem to be working on it continuously so that is appreciated. A major issue is that the game does not have important story bits (such as the town) integrated yet. THE GAME SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN RELEASED IF THE GAME IS NOT COMPLETED YET. Any patches on the game should address bugs and performance, NOT PUT IN PARTS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE AT RELEASE. I am hopeful that the devs are working on it and we will get to a finished state someday. Addressing GOG integration: The updates are not arriving to GOG as soon as to other platforms. Developers need to be more interactive with the GOG community.

It has an original premise that manages to keep it fresh and stand apart from being too similar to the obvious Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon comparison; This is what kept me playing for roughly 10 hours. The setting is fun; the subject matter is darkly humorous and is the strongest aspect of the game. After that much of a time sink, I really thought there were a few huge flaws that could have made the game more enjoyable. First of all, this is a grindfest only for those who are seriously into that grind. Long production chains with MANY intermediary steps requiring travel across the map for a slow payout. The game forces you to become a jack of all trades since many of the production chains are interlinked with other disciplines but I really only found the gravekeeping/priesthood to be the most developed and amusing of all the trades. There is a strong emphasis on workshop creation. Movement speed is brutally slow and there doesnt appear to be any practical way to increase his speed permanently or even run. Instead the game wants you to unlock shortcuts with materials which is just boring. There is not a robust combat system or any reflex activities to break up the monotony of the game. Inventory management is an absolute nightmare in this game. No option to expand a backpack or increase your inventory. Eventually, you'll be stockpiling so many items that it drifts into absolute tedium attempting to manage it. The game revels in its mysteriousness by not being very clear at times and I believe its unpredictable nature is part of its charm, but it doesn't seem to do the player any courtesy at all. I eventually quit the game when my graveyard got full. I sunk tons of hours and resources into upgrading the church only to be hit with a hurdle that required an egregious amount of money. Overall, I really enjoyed the game for its content and setting especially how you walk a fine line of criminal activity, but wished it was a bit more "fun" at times.